Blast from the past: This man on the right, pictured in 1939, bears a striking resemblance to rapper Jay-Z. Photo: NYPL

The hat looks a little different … Jay-Z is seen at a Yankees game in 2010. (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)

Jay-Z has gone old school.

Among the “Harlem Loiterers” collection at the New York Public Library is a 1939 pic that bears a striking resemblance to once of rap music’s biggest names.

The NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is hoping someone knows the identity of the man in the picture, which was snapped by Sid Grossman.

“I was immediately struck by the similarity to Jay-Z and actually laughed out loud,” said Schomburg’s Curator of Digital Collections Sylviane A. Diouf said, according to the NYPL. “I still hope somebody will tell us who that you man really was.”